Quilling

I was never a very creative person. Would rate myself as average on the creative scale. So I never made any awesome paintings or any other such artistic products that many creative girls try out in their free time at home. But recently I came across some paper craft which looked really appealing and beautiful. I thought it might be difficult, but when I searched for it on the internet and watched the “how to…” videos on the youtube I realized it’s doable and does not require too much of fancy basic stuff to start off with. This paper craft is known as quilling. There are lot many things that can be decorated using quilling technique but I started with something which was basic and would not be very tedious or time consuming. I started making quilling envelopes. Below are a few pictures of my quilling envelopes:

3-Tier Flower

Quilled Butterfly and flowers

The only basic things that you require for making these are:
1. Envelopes

2. Quilling strips (easily available on a lot many Indian websites)

3. Quilling tool (it’s a pencil like tool again available on the sites selling paper craft products)

4. Imagination :)

Now after getting the hang of basic quilling shapes, I am motivated to try out something new and fascinating each time. And needless to say, Internet helps. For example, I saw this pattern of “love birds” on one of the blogs on quilling and tried it and made a card for hubby on the valentine’s day :)

This is something that I intend to continue doing in my free time and continue experimenting!

Rockstar - Review

We happened to watch Rockstar last weekend in a theatre nearby our place. A few comments about this movie (spoilers galore!)

1. The movie belongs to Ranbir from the start till the end. He truly rocked. His transformation from a meek and endearing college going kid to an angst-filled rockstar was truly commendable.

2. Nargis Fakhri is so pale that it is impossible to believe her as an Indian girl. Though Imtiaz Ali tried to justify her looks by giving her the character of a Kashmiri girl still she doesn't look the part.

3. Nargis Fakhri just can't act. Her acting totally sucks! So much so that in some senti scenes she actually looks comical.

4. The dialogues in the 1st half are straight forward and witty without any extra sophistication, Sample this: In one scene where Ranbir's mentor asks him if he has ever fallen in love and Ranbir starts thinking. The mentor says "Agar pyaar hota toh ghanta sochna padhta"

5. The 2nd half gets boring and repetitive. Ranbir only keeps some interest alive. Unfortunately his brilliant acting also doesn't make the audience feel his pain and anguish. After the movie, hubby jokingly commented "I could soooo feel his pain!"

6. Being a movie about a music celebrity, I thought the music of Rockstar was just about ok. There was no single number which really caught my fancy.

All in all, Rockstar is an average movie. I had more expectations from it considering it was Imtiaz Ali's movie. But well, it is indeed better than his previous flick "Love Aaj Kal"

KL and Bali trip - snippets

We had booked our tickets for KL-Bali trip long back in March. And after a wait for around 8 months, October finally came and we embarked on our journey to 2 very beautiful countries in Asia. During the trip, we did lot of touristy things but I’ll remember this trip for some few not-so-touristy ones:

Visiting a Chinatown for the first time
Yeah...I was a Chinatown virgin if you say so...lol. This was my first visit to any Chinatown in any country. Hubby took me to the Chinatown in KL and I was simply blown away not just by the colors and lighting but also by the amazing replicas of so many branded items available there. Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Coach – bags, scarfs, luggage, you name it…it was there. When we were tired of being amazed and amused at all these realistic fakes, we helped ourselves to fresh juice, yummy corn and coconut water.

Staying in a homestay of a Balinese couple
I had booked this homestay on the recommendation of trip advisor and needless to say, it turned out to be a really ideal place for us to stay in the initial period in Bali. It was right in the central location of Ubud and the Balinese couple was very warm and friendly. All the restaurants, taxi services etc were just a minute’s walk from this place but still this place was so calm and peaceful. No fancy stuff like expensive hotels, but all the basic things were in place and everyday we also were treated to a nice breakfast. It was a great beginning to our Bali adventure.

Eating in lakhs of Rupiah
Well, before we started our journey, I knew that 1 Indian Rupee is equivalent to around 170-180 Indonesian Rupiah. But it still took us time to gulp this fact when we had our lunch for the first time in Indonesia and the bill came out to be in lakhs of Rupiah. (Don’t really remember the figure now but imaging the guilt of having eaten food worth something like 120,000) :D

Hiking an active volcano called Mt. Batur
Bali is a rich land endowed with lot of different geographical features. It has beaches, volcanoes, lush green rice fields, rivers et al. When we came to know that hiking tours on one of the active volcanoes can be arranged along with a guide, we both were game for it. So we were to climb Mt. Batur, an active volcano with a height of 1717 m. We started from our homestay at 2:00 AM and started the hike with our guide at around 4:00. I am not really good at trekking coz I have a drawback that I start panting pretty quickly. So after lot of huffing and puffing, taking a lot of breaks and in the end being literally dragged by my guide, we managed to reach the top of the volcano. And well, the efforts were well rewarded. We saw one of the most beautiful sunrises. We also saw a huge crater formed at the top. There was even some smoke coming out from the middle of the crater. And then our guide showed us a small cave like place on the mountain where the steam was coming out and in spite of the chill in the air, it was so warm and soothing to stand in front of the cave. We reached back to our homestay in the afternoon with aching legs and severe tiredness but the hike was totally worth it.

Travelling across the countryside of Bali on a scooter rather than taking conventional tours
A suggestion to anyone going to Bali – don’t fall in the trap of sight seeing tours available there. We did our own sightseeing and how – we rented a scooter for 2 days (it costed us around INR 300 per day WITH PETROL!) and we had the most amazing time going around the countryside of Ubud and to far off places like Batur Lake and Sanur Beach on our scooter. Hubby did not allow me to drive much (against my wish) coz he was concerned about the safety but he made sure that we have a helluva time. We drove from morning till evening and saw the inner parts of Ubud village and a lot of surrounding areas which wouldn’t have been possible on a guided tour.

Chance meeting with a Marwari couple who happened to know someone from hubby’s family
Okay when I think about this incident even now, I still freak out. What are the odds that a couple traveling to Bali from Bangalore would cross paths with an elderly couple traveling from Kolkata who also by the way, turn out to be Marwaris like us and not just that – they would also know some close relative from hubby’s side. Quite remote, you may say. And when it happens you end up going out with them for dinner and even going for water sports with them the next day as they are warm and gracious enough to invite us with them in their rented car.

So, all these fascinating things made our Bali trip memorable. If I get a chance I would like to travel to Indonesia again and do so many other things which we could not cover this time coz of shortage of time.

Janamdin Mubarak

Khushi manaane ka din hai

Aaj unka janamdin hai

Socha tha surprise denge

Saath mein celebrate karenge

Ek hamaari ore se tohfa denge

Aur return gift bhi lenge

Par who nahi ab mumkin hai

Aaj unka janamdin hai

Office ka kaam kuch aisa aaya

Unhone baahar jaane ka plan banaaya

Humko ye naa bilkul bhaaya

Niraasha ka baadal aisa chaaya

Dukhi ab hum tumhaare bin hai

Aaj unka janamdin hai

Happy Birthday dodo! :P

bas yun hi...

कुछ गुमान हमको भी था तुम पर

अपनी किस्मत की दाद देते थे हम भी

पर आज कुछ ऐसा कर गुज़रे हो तुम

कि होंठ चुप हैं और आँख है नम भी

जिन बाहों में आसरा ढूँढा किये

जिस किनारे पे कश्ती लगाने का सहारा था

उसी की आँधियों ने डगमगा दिया

वोह सब कुछ छिन गया जो हमारा था

इस भीड़ में ये कैसी तन्हाई है

यूँ सिमट हैं गए रौशनी के एहसास भी

नहीं जानते अब कहाँ जायेंगे

दूर दूर तक नज़र आता ना ठिकाना कोई

क्यूंकि आज कुछ ऐसा कर गुज़रे हो तुम

कि होठ चुप हैं और आँख है नम भी

Happy Teach-ing Day!

It has finally happened! After waiting for more than a month for this moment, it finally arrived!! I am still trying to soak in the feeling that surrounds this experience.

Well, I took my first class today...as a Faculty, for MBA students, no less. And what better day to start teaching than on a Teacher's Day! It was nerve wrecking for me to speak in front of 60 students for the first time in my life. But my nerves gradually soothed. I felt more relaxed, more comfortable.

Initially, the dean introduced me to the class and I couldn't help but smile at all the nice words he said about me. After the dean left the class, I was left on my own. My heart beat had reached a new high as I started talking...and I was just praying that the loud thumping of my heart should not be heard by any student. 

Standing on a dais in front of one big class for the first time, wasn't really easy. I gave a brief intro about myself and talked a little and then asked the students to introduce themselves. That set the momentum. And I was pleasantly surprised to know that we had one student from Afghanistan and one from Iran in that class. "Wow! My college must be really popular" I was mentally saying. But after the introduction of all the students was over, there were still 30 minutes left. WHOA! What am I gonna talk about for next 30 minutes?! (I had decided I won't teach them anything much pertaining to the subject in the first class and instead try and mingle with them and make them also comfortable). 

So I just briefly introduced the subject and then asked them if they have any questions for me. And gradually one thing led to another. The students were curious to know more about me....where have I done MBA from, where was I working, what specialisation is good for them, how many holidays will they get, etc. And before I knew it, I was quite relaxed and all the initial jitter had gone. When I walked out of the class, I felt happy and at the same time I felt so much more responsible towards my students. I am not gonna let them down. I think I am much better prepared to take my next class now.

*Fingers crossed*

Back to college

I completed one month here a couple of days back. And I have survived.

Well, I am talking about my new job stint as a Faculty in one of the reputed management colleges in Bangalore. I was initially very apprehensive about taking up this job as I have no prior teaching experience. But there were two reasons for taking up this job. First of all, my entrepreneurial venture wasn't really going at the pace as I expected. So I thought that I should may be start a full time job again which would bring some discipline in my unorganized and ill-disciplined life.

Secondly, I used to love the training sessions that I imparted as a part of my job a few years back. And I always thought that few years down the line, I would take up some visiting faculty position and teach.

So when this opportunity came knocking, I grabbed it with both hands. I am so glad I did it! I am enjoying the routine of getting up early and going to work again after a long hiatus of 3.5 years. I like the idea of being presentable and looking after yourself and these things seem to take a backseat when you are working from home. So, after a long gap, I thoroughly enjoyed shopping for clothes and stuff. (Not that I did not have clothes but there is a different sense of euphoria when you join a new job)

There is still some time before I start taking classes and frankly, I am a little nervous. Meanwhile, I am myself doing a LOT OF studying to prepare myself for the lectures. When I was in college and was on the other side of the fence, I never really took the classes very seriously and would study only during exams. Little did I realise at that time that our professors put in so much efforts to deliver one single lecture. Ab jab khudko karna padh raha hai toh nani yaad aa rahi hai :D

When I had completed my MBA in 2003 and got a job, I was thrilled. Guess the thrill was more about the fact that I wouldn’t have to study again and wouldn’t have to take any more exams than about the job. But as they say "Life is something that happens to you when you are busy making other plans" :)

Not that I am cribbing, but it surely took a while for me to get into the groove again and start preparing seriously. But now I feel more confident and much better prepared to face the students and deliver lectures.

The classes would start in another 8-10 days time. I am nervous as hell and keeping my fingers crossed.

It would be one big exam and I want to pass it with flying colors!